---
title: Proposal for spending community funds
description: We're proposing a system to pay core maintainers for essential admin work funded by community donations. This 3-month trial won't move forward without your input. If the community is against it, we won't do it.
date: 2025-06-08T16:00
slug: spending-community-funds
tags: [announcement]
hide_table_of_contents: false
authors: MatissJanis
---

Our open source community has reached an exciting point: thanks to the incredible generosity of our donors, we now have a steady flow of funds coming in. First of all — thank you.

This support allows us to make the project more sustainable for everyone involved. We want to start by addressing something that is often overlooked in open source: the invisible labor that keeps everything running.

We're proposing a 3-month trial program to pay our core maintainers for the essential (but often unglamorous) work of:

- Reviewing pull requests
- Triage and categorize GitHub issues
- Preparing releases

We believe it's time to recognize the financial value of labor — but before we move forward, we want to hear your feedback. Join the conversation on [Discord] or leave anonymous feedback in [this form].

> **Update:** This proposal has been approved. More details about the payment system can be found in the [paying contributors](/docs/contributing/leadership/paying-contributors) page.

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## What We're Proposing

Starting July 1st, we'd like to set aside $1,000 per month from the project's funds for a review stipend pool. This pool would be divided between **core maintainers** based on the work they do each month, measured via a transparent points system.

- Points are assigned based on the size of PRs reviewed (using lines of code as a proxy for effort).
- Additional points are awarded for labelling and grooming issues, closing duplicates, and managing releases.
- The system has a cap, and in months with less activity, the payout is reduced to $500.
- Payments are handled via OpenCollective and are only available to core maintainers.

This system is designed to be lightweight, fair, and easy to administer — and it keeps our monthly costs well within our donation income.

## Why Start With Admin Work?

Before we consider feature bounties or bug bounties, we need to acknowledge the day-to-day labor that enables these contributions to be merged and released. Paying for features while leaving critical administrative work unpaid would be unsustainable — and unfair.

This trial serves as the foundation for broader funding efforts in the future. However, it begins with respecting the work that is already being done.

## What We Need From You

We believe this is the right direction — but we won't go ahead without the community's support.

- If you're for it, against it, or have suggestions — let us know.
- If there's strong opposition, we won't implement it.
- If the community supports it, we'll begin the trial in July.

Join the conversation on [Discord] or leave anonymous feedback in [this form].
We're listening — and we'll publish a summary of the feedback before moving forward.

## What's Next?

- We'll collect community feedback until late June.
- If there's consensus, the 3-month trial begins July 1st.
- After the trial, we'll evaluate how it went and where to go next.

---

Thank you again for being part of this journey. This community runs on trust, time, and care. With your feedback, we can keep building something that works — for all of us.

[Discord]: https://discord.com/channels/937901803608096828/940290142579605514/1381286169601511515
[this form]: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScGRK__pOmMja3y_GMmF7RbMjtnmebWrbXvY0JXstoiJLb7Uw/viewform?usp=dialog
